Ramesh, a labourer in Toomda village near Bhopal, can't believe his luck. He earns Rs 81 a day, digging wells under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme, the United Progressive Alliance's flagship social welfare scheme that started in 2006.
Global demand for certified wood has prompted Indian companies to get their logging vetted by monitoring agencies.
State-owned enterprises are depending more on government money to fund their capital expansion in the wake of the economic downturn.
Companies can sigh with relief. The draft rules of the Collection of Statistics Act, cleared by Parliament earlier this year, neutralise some of the powers given to data collecting officials.
A wall in Vijaypura is an example of what a single positive example can do for a large programme like the National Rrural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
Section 377, which banned gay relations, also used to be invoked to protect minors against sexual abuse
The conflict between development and environment should not cause unnecessary delays, says Union Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh.
The services sector contributes the highest of around 54 per cent to the country's gross domestic product. At present, the WPI, which is released every week, contains prices of primary articles, fuel and manufactured products. Data from banking and transport services would be the first sectors to be covered on an experimental basis. The plan is to initially build a separate services index, which would be integrated into the WPI later.
This meant targets set for primary school admissions, assured income for every family and roads, water, housing and electricity. And yearly spending of over Rs 1,20,000 crore (Rs 1,200 billion), up from Rs 36,000 crore (Rs 360 billion) in the last year of the National Democratic Alliance government.
Since September last year, when everyone realised that the global economic meltdown could not be wished away, industry groups have been dishing out data on job losses. Among these is the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry, which said a million jobs had been lost in the last financial year. Most textile companies expect the situation to improve by October this year.
India Inc's initiative to adopt Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) across the country is facing problems because of low level of cooperation on the field as well as red-tapism, industry lobby groups have claimed.
Ficci: Rationalise tax structure; CII: Space for fiscal incentives is limited.
A higher cumulative penalty will be levied for not sharing data, say officials. However, criminal charges will be pressed in cases where manipulation of data is involved, they say. Under the new Act, people or companies not divulging data would have to pay a fine of Rs 1,000 and they would be given a 14 day notice period to comply. If the information is not provided even after two weeks, the penalty will rise to Rs 5,000 per day.
The Model Code of Conduct for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections has come in the way of release of routine economic data like the consumer price indices.
A district collector's experiment in Tamil Nadu is showing the way for more rural BPOs even in times of recession.
To counter demand contraction in key markets like the US and Europe, Indian textile exporters are exploring alternative markets like Japan, South Africa and Latin America. At present, only 4 per cent of India's textile exports go to these markets.
Sanskara Eye Care's model of charging fee from only 20 per cent of the patients is sufficient to make each hospital self-sustaining in three to five years. But is not the only source of its sustenance. In the US, children are donating their pocket money towards eye surgery in these hospitals. It is $30 for a surgery, says founder R V Ramani.
If there is one state where environmental issues spill over into active politics and can rewrite the destiny of political parties, it is Goa. And history threatens to repeat itself in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections for two seats, over a government ordinance concerning a Supreme Court order on the demolition of illegal structures built by hotels.
Rented housing and fixed rents, like it's in developed countries, could be one way to ensure that everyone in cities has a roof over his head.
He asked the CMs to give priority to income-generating schemes like housing and tone up implementation of ongoing programmes to enable them to spend the originally allocated funds and the additional allocation of Rs 20,000 crore. He referred specifically to the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, National Urban Renewal Mission, National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Indira Awas Yojana, Acceleration Irrigation Benefit Programme and National Social Assistance Programme.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances